A WARWICKSHIRE speed camera snared 40 motorists a day on average in just two and a half months.

Road safety chiefs have revealed that a temporary camera on the Barford bypass roadworks to slow traffic to 30mph caught 3,153 drivers speeding.

Of those, 2,103 were hit with automatic tickets, raking in more than #126,000 for the Warwickshire road safety bosses and the treasury.

Parish councillor Matthew Byerley, of Sandy Way, Barford, said in support of the camera: "At the end of the day, these people are breaking the law.

"I personally think stopping people speeding is a good thing."

As revealed in the Telegraph, Warwickshire motorists caught by speed cameras have paid out almost #5million in fines over the past two years.

Statistics for the county show 39,088 drivers were fined #60 in the financial year 2005 to 2006, raising #2.3million and, in the 12 months before that, #2.6million was raised.

The chairman of one of Warwickshire's associations of driving instructors, John Cerpnjak, criticised the siting of the camera.

Driving instructor Mr Cerpnjak, aged 55, of Myers Road, Hillmorton, Rugby, who drives more than 800 miles a week around Warwickshire, said speed cameras were designed to catch motorists unawares.

He said: "To catch that many people there in such a short space of time is horrendous.

"It is just there for the drivers to be caught out.

"Some people are obviously unaware of it and there are not enough warning signs there."

The Warwickshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, which runs the county's 23 fixed cameras and five mobile units, said the Barford bypass camera had improved safety for road users and workmen in the road.

A partnership spokesman said more than 99 per cent of traffic driving north through the roadworks did so without triggering the camera.